Ruby Jewel's new downtown shop has their signature 'scream sandwiches and house made cones to house their ice creams but this outlet has added soft serve to their roster.

I topped off my cone with a tuft of cookies and cream soft serve which wasn't my thing. The bitsy bits of biscuit were too small to offer that textural treat of chunky chewing and ended up making it more of an even, granular goo. Fortunately, I had some swell scoopage underneath in the form of salted caramel and dark chocolate. Chubby also went with this rich and relishable flavor atop some of their chocolate ice cream (which was a superior selection.)

The original branch boasts lines out the door, but this offshoot was underpopulated during our visit. I'm sure the downtown crowd will zone in on this cone copia once they get the word out...

... lured us back with their unflappably infallible Ike's wings ($12.50):

These fish-sauced motivators continue to be on our mastication rotation (ordered spicy and washed down with cold beer.)

The chitlins ($7.00):

... are stewed in 5 spice and fried resulting in an intestinal interlude of black vinegared tubularity. We gobbled these guts with a collection of clams ($9.00):

A lemongrassed broth added tantalizing tang to this Thai basiled bowl of gasteropodded goodness that was a shore thing.

Marinated, dried pork ($7.00):

... hit the deep fryer with lime leaves which gave the foliage a fine fragility. These shattering sheets of leaf lofted the jerky-like swine strips that settled into our bowls of rice as we mopped up the last morsels.

Whisky Soda Lounge acts as the Pok Pok waiting room but we love it as a stand alone supper stop.

We cooled off with some Bridgeport IPA and Hopworks lager ($5.00 per pint):

... with some minty salad rolls ($4.00):

... which were standard cigars of vermicelli, shrimp and pork with a peanut sauce. The corn on the cob ($3.00):

... had a smokiness to the commanding kernels of nibbleable ears which sounded off with a sprinkling of chili powder.

A mini chicken half ($8.00):

... was fried to a crispy skinned, moist meated poultry portion with pickled vegetables and herbs to counterpoint this clucky chomp.

Crunch from an egg roll played well with the combo of vermicelli, grilled shrimp and pork ($9.00):

... in a hefty helping of bun. We dunked bits in the sweet and vinegary fish sauce and slurped down our swell supper at this new noshing nook.

LIght fixtures fashioned from shipping palates and preserving jars illuminated this wood-lined warren of friendly service and anchovy-influenced edibles. We will definitely swing back to check out their cocktail list and more of their menu.

Tin Shed may not be either, but it can't seem to shed the tin-atitious brunch crowd like the one we encountered today.

In the tradition of many Portland bruncheries, they have a self service coffee station. Their collection of coffee mugs could come across as geriatric pandering:

... or simply reflect the undesirable ceramics that made their way into the donation stream.

After a half hour holding pattern, we landed an "Everything Nice" ($11.00):

... which was a sampling of breakfast bites including a crisply fringed potato pancake with a hit of sour cream and green onions, scrambled eggs, a chicken apple sausage and fruit. The only meh-morable bit was the brioche French toast (which we prefer a little more custard saturated, but it was okay.)

The "Good Dog" ($9.25 plus $1.00 for biscuit):

... was a pile of potato pancakes, pork sausage, peppers and onions in a Cheddar scramble topped with a chipotle sauce.
This dog's dinner was a kitchen sink of breakfast that would serve as a hangover cure in some circles. This was all squared off with a flaky, fluffy baking powder biscuit.

This funky fort of 'cation was friendly but doesn't make it to the top of our breakfast list.

This balanced berry ball was all about the fruit and less about the 'tose.

We loved the light hand with the 'crose in our fantastic fruit frost and are sad to learn that they have sold their scooping station but perhaps they will offer to coach the next coach owner on their chilled chow.

These corks of chocolate were bite-sected over a caramel creek with boozy cherries. This sweet, moist, chocolaty, caramel-cradled concoction boosted our blood sugar as we also delved into a slice of rhubarb-strawberry pie ($7.00):

This wedge had a good tang, but didn't have the distinct districts of fruit that we crave. It was more like a uniform gelled situation - fine, but not a re-order.

Platters of iced oysters paraded by reminding us to return for the savory section of selections.

... were met with long waiting lists so we snuck in on the early side to grab some beer and arancine ($14.00 for 4):

All of these oranges had crisp crusts concealing righteous risotto.

The beet with goat cheese and basil had a tangy, creamy, rootiness while the mushroom, fonduta and salumi variations rounded out this edible orrery.

We have had many sensational pies here, but today's was not among them. The frutti di mare ($17.00):

... was a beautiful beachy board of mussels, clams and octopus, but these wet wares created a sogginess to this tide of tucker. Agretti accented the saline scope of seafare and the brightly flavored tomato sauce was delectable but couldn't correct this logged load. We should have stuck with their fantastic white anchovy, mushroom or sausage selections.

Oven and Shaker continues on our rotation, but next time we'll get one of those anchovy numbers...and send the kitchen a 6er while we're at it...